Monday, 24 June 2013

Hun Sen Says Change Is a Dangerous Game

You may have to flee your homes. That was the latest pre-election
warning message from Prime Minister Hun Sen to the people of Banteay
Meanchey province on Friday, where he once again raised the specter of a
near-apocalyptic scenario should he not be re-elected on July 28.

Continuing his slew of public speeches peppered with warnings of
civil war and near societal collapse should his long-ruling CPP be
defeated in the election, Mr. Hun Sen had a simpler yet no less ominous
message for the public: “Change is not a game.”

“Voting for the CPP means you are voting for yourself: Voting for
peace, political stability and development for yourself,” in terms of
roads, schools, hospitals and pagodas, Mr. Hun Sen said.

To vote for someone else, he added, is to gamble with the possibility
of receiving such infrastructure, and it might even mean that people
“face fleeing.”

The prime minister did not explain what the public might have to flee
from, but presented a history lesson of the dangers of changing leaders
in Cambodia; a lesson that ultimately focused on the rise of the Khmer
Rouge and mass killing in Cambodia.

“Change is not a game,” Mr. Hun Sen said. “After changing Lon Nol to the Pol Pot regime, the genocide occurred,” he said.

He also warned the public to treat the national election with more
importance than last year’s commune election, which had no impact on
political parties—only local government services, he said.

“Voting in the upcoming election is to vote for political parties and
for the prime minister’s position, which involves the turning upside
down of domestic and international policies, which could mean
destruction,” he said.

Addressing an audience of thousands who turned out for his speech in Poipet City at the inauguration of a new road, Mr. Hun Sen implored the public to return him tooffice.

“In the near future, we hope people will again vote for the Cambodian
People’s Party,” he said, noting that 67.7 percent of the voters in
Banteay Meanchey voted for the ruling party at last year’s commune
election.

“So, I would like to appeal to people, if they have seen the correct
leadership policy of the Cambodian People’s Party, and my right
leadership…if you love, like and sympathize…and trust Hun Sen, vote for
the Cambodian People’s Party.”

Yem Ponhearith, spokesman for the Cambodia National Rescue Party, the main election challenger to the CPP, said Mr. Hun Sen’s constant reference to war and instability should there be an election upset amounted to psychological pressure on voters.

“Change is not bad. Why don’t they look at change after elections in
Thailand, the United States, France, Singapore and so on? It doesn’t
bring instability and chaos for countries,” Mr. Pon­hearith said.

Changing the leadership to improvedevelopment in the country should be done freely and fairly, he added.

Mr. Hun Sen on Friday also said that he expected more votes in
Banteay Meanchey thanks to his student volunteer land-titling project,
which had distributed 23,186 individual titles to 13,718 families
covering more than 44,000 hectares of land.

Congratulating himself on bringing peace and development to border
regions in Banteay Meanchey, including a $72 million road linking the
cities of Poipet, Battambang and Pailin, Mr. Hun Sen said that such
success depended on political stability.

“Development cannot be started with the instability or war. [We] will
try to protect the peace and political stability that we have struggled
hard to achieve,” he said.